Tag Archives: face value

LEADERSHIP: Leveraging Your Face Value

By Peter Jeff
The Leadership Mints Guy

Here’s an idea to help you foster greater integrity. Reading time: 3:58.

Pull out a dollar bill from your purse/wallet or pocket. Take a look at the photo of George Washington and realize that there’s even more currency in that dollar than you think. And it has nothing to do with the national debt.

But it does have everything to do with your ability to cash in on your leadership. And you can take that to the bank. At least artist Gilbert Stuart thought so.

Stuart was one of the first artists to paint dignitaries with a sole focus on their face, up close and personal. No palatial background. No prestigious clothing. No fine furniture. No sense of privilege or prominence. Just the face.

Call Gilbert Stuart the Facebook guru of the 18th Century. His focus on the face of George Washington became the most circulated piece of art in the world-thanks to the millions of George Washington dollar bills in circulation since 1869.

Ever since then-four years after the Civil War- we look to the face of a the chief executive officer to reflect the values of that organization. We look to the president to literally serve as the face of that organization.

You can’t go more than two or three pages into an Annual Report without coming face to face with the chief executive officers of that organization.

Check your Face Book account right now. Or your corporate ID badge. Or the photo on your driver’s licenses. Is your photo flashing the leadership message you intended -at the speed of light -visually? Or are you forced to putter along at a mere 761.2 miles per hour — the speed of sound- in telling/selling your leadership message.

At any rate, the face of the nation is clearly imbedded in the face of George Washington on the dollar bill. Stern, disciplined, independent minded. And even a bit feisty -at least according to the story that Abraham Lincoln liked to tell about the portrait of George Washington. The story goes like this:

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Public Speaking in a Bathrobe and Beyond

By Peter Jeff
The Leadership Mints Guy

Here are few ideas to make the opening of your next speech more visually compelling. Reading time: 4:57

The president called a special 7 a.m. meeting of all 400 managers in his company one Sunday morning —the last day of a three-day conference at a resort.

Everyone grumbled at having to get up that early because of a venue scheduling conflict. At 6:59 a.m. the huge hotel ballroom was filled. But the president looked like a no-show.

Finally at exactly 7 am the president walked on stage. In his bathrobe!

Waving a cup of coffee in his hand, he said: “Geez, who scheduled this early morning meeting anyway?” The crowd laughed. They howled even louder when the president disrobed.

He stood in full business attire as he approached the lectern and began his speech.

The bathrobe-disrobing president tapped into what his audience was feeling at that moment. He connected with them, personally. He demonstrated his emotional intelligence.

And they were now more attentive to his message. Even at 7 in the morning on a normal day off for most employees.

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